Fears About Genetically Modified Crops Are Complete 'Nonsense'

Concerns about the health implications of genetically modified
(GM) crops are
"a complete nonsense" according to the environment secretary, who
said Britain should be "emphatically" looking at their
cultivation.

Owen Paterson, whose brief includes food and rural affairs, also
said he was confident that the prime minister would find an
"appropriate moment" in future to back GM food and that it would
be a question of persuading the public.

"Emphatically we should be looking at GM … I'm very clear it
would be a good thing," he told the Daily Telegraph in an
interview.

"The trouble is all this stuff about Frankenstein foods and
putting poisons in foods. There are real benefits, and what
you've got to do is sell the real environmental benefits."

The number of people "concerned" about GM has also fallen by 5%,
according to the Populus survey, commissioned by the British
Science Association.

Paterson went on to say that consumers were already unwittingly
eating GM food on a regular basis, adding: "There's about 160
million hectares of GM being grown around the world.

"There isn't a single piece of meat being served [in a typical
London restaurant] where a bullock hasn't eaten some GM feed. So
it's a complete nonsense. But, the humbug! You know, large
amounts of GM products are used across Europe."

On the question of the government backing GM, he added: "I'm very
clear it would be a good thing. So you'd discuss it within
government, you'd discuss it at a European level and you'd need
to persuade the public."